Perception Beats Product.

Why your marketing might not be working. ?

You’re not alone, if you feel like your marketing investment isn’t getting you anywhere fast. ?

Many outdoor, sports, and lifestyle brands pour money into product campaigns, but do little to build their brand. Stock to shift (on sale again?). Latest lines to launch?? ?

Often it’s performance tactics that prove you might be winning at Google, but you aren’t winning the hearts and minds of your target audience.

Sound familiar?

Well here’s the uncomfortable truth:? ?

Perception is more powerful than product.? ?

Consider this:

Beyond a few exceptions (I’m talking true disruptors in your category).? ?

Very few people will care for the new features of your latest products (sorry).

Sure, maybe 5% of your market might be product geeks.

But most of your target (often your largest amount of buyers) will see product features as negligible from one product to the next.

Ask yourself can buyers really tell the difference between one rucksack and another, or one technical jacket and another??

This is why:

brand perception - how your brand is perceived is king. ?

Getting people to feel something for your brand is where the magic happens.?

Don’t believe me??

Here are the facts you need to take to your boss:

1.?Emotional reasoning beats rational reasoning:

Emotional ads deliver twice the profit over the long term than rational ads (IPA data from Binet & Field).?

If people don’t ‘remember’ your brand, and feel connected to what you stand for, those new product features are meaningless.?

Stop focusing solely on features—start building brand memories.

2. Strong Brands Command a Premium:

"Branding is the biggest profit multiplier.” Jon Evans

?Brands with strong perceptions can charge more—even if the product is the same as a competitor’s.??

Research by ACA found distinctive brands can charge 12% more than non distinctive brands.

If your brand isn’t building trust and aspiration, you’re leaving money on the table.

3. Building brand creates future demand:

‘Long-term brand building strategies are 200% more effective at driving market share.’ (IPA study, Long & Short of it)

By growing your brand you build future demand for you brand.?

Keep doing this over time, alongside short term sales tactics, and you’re sales will grow gradually overtime.

The golden rule as outlined by Les Binet is 60:40 for budget splits, brand building to short term?sales activation.

The Bottom Line

If your marketing isn’t delivering the ROI it should, the problem isn’t your product—it’s your brand perception.?

Stop obsessing over performance and features, and start building a brand people remember and aspire to.? ?

That’s where the real growth lies. ?

Ready to shift perception?

I’m running FREE strategy calls throughout October for founders, marketeers and in-housers on to shift perception.

All you have to do is:

→ Click the link below.

→ Book a FREE strategy call

→ Shift perception

Neil Bennett

Excursion Studio

Founder